[antcadger]

About a week ago my computer started to freeze when ever I tried to use anything that involved windows explorer. So I can run Firefox or a game but as soon as I try to use something for windows like My Documents or the Start button it will just freeze and become inactive. When this happens I can still alt-tab and use Firefox or any program that was running before (they have no apparent slow downs) I attempted to use My documents. The only way to get out of it is to ctrl+alt+delete and log off and then on. I've run two full disk checks but those did nothing. I don't have the XP CD's so I can reformat. Any tips would be appreciated.

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Anything new installed as far as software or hardware?
Updates done to existing software?
Anything downloaded recently prior to issue starting?


Download WhoCrashed from the link in my signature below
This program checks for any drivers which may have been causing your computer to crash....

Click on the file you just downloaded and run it.
Put a tick in Accept then click on Next
Put a tick in the Don't create a start menu folder then click Next
Put a tick in Create a Desktop Icon then click on Install and make sure there is a tick in Launch Whocrashed before clicking Finish
Click Analyze
It will want to download the Debugger and install it Say Yes

WhoCrashed will create report but you have to scroll down to see it
Copy and paste it into your next reply

[rshaffer61]

Anything new installed as far as software or hardware?
Updates done to existing software?
Anything downloaded recently prior to issue starting?


Download WhoCrashed from the link in my signature below
This program checks for any drivers which may have been causing your computer to crash....

Click on the file you just downloaded and run it.
Put a tick in Accept then click on Next
Put a tick in the Don't create a start menu folder then click Next
Put a tick in Create a Desktop Icon then click on Install and make sure there is a tick in Launch Whocrashed before clicking Finish
Click Analyze
It will want to download the Debugger and install it Say Yes

WhoCrashed will create report but you have to scroll down to see it
Copy and paste it into your next reply

[antcadger]

Anything new installed as far as software or hardware? I tried to speed up XP with tips from TweakXp.com or whatever the sites name is, about a week before it first happened. Also my video card died about 3 days after this all started.
Updates done to existing software?Not that I know of.
Anything downloaded recently prior to issue starting?Nope.


I installed and ran WhoCrashed and did not get asked to install a Debugger. After that I ran it and this is what it gave me.

Analysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dump directory: C:\windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.


No crash dumps have been found on your computer


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dumps are enabled and no crash dumps have been found on your computer. In case your computer does experience sudden reboots it is likely these are caused by malfunctioning hardware or power failure. Then it's suggested you contact the support department of the manufacturer of your system or test your system with a memory test utility for further investigation.

[rshaffer61]

Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.

[antcadger]

I did that but the problem still happens. There was one file I couldn't delete, I didn't know if it was important or not so I just took a pic.

[rshaffer61]

Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged



Reboot and let me know how system is running now

Edited by rshaffer61, 08 June 2009 - 03:01 PM.

[antcadger]

I installed and tried to run TFC by Old Timer but anytime I clicked run I would get this blue screen.



I've never seen this screen in my life so I really don't know what to make of that.

I defrag pretty regularly but ran AusLogics anyway and to no avail the problem still persists.


I was thinking if there was anyway to undo or set the settings in regedit to default?

[rshaffer61]

Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Not the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y

If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[antcadger]

I had already run a Chkdsk today but did it again for the [bleep] of it. Still have the problem.

[rshaffer61]

Do you have your XP disk? If so follow these steps to do a SFC /SCANNOW

Go Start and then to Run ("Start Search" in Vista),
Type in: sfc /scannow
Click OK (Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) finds any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc does not find any errors in Windows XP, it will simply quit, without any message.
In Vista you will receive the following message: "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".

For Vista users ONLY: Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder. You'll see CBS.log file.
Usually, it's pretty big file, so upload it to Flyupload, and post download link.


If you don't have Windows CD....
This applies mostly to Windows XP, since Vista rarely requires use of its DVD while running "sfc"
Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start and then Run
type in regedit and click OK


Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries Values on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, usually D and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.
All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!


Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[antcadger]

EDIT: It's back now. Gonna try to do the scan that requires no disk because I don't have one.


So yea, I did what you said above and the first time I booted up I got these two errors.

http://yfrog.com/5dp6090141jx

The pics are pretty blurry but you get the gist.

Once it restarted everything started working fine. I never even got a chance to do sfc /scannow check (Should I still run that?).

Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate it.

Edited by antcadger, 09 June 2009 - 09:01 AM.

[antcadger]

Every time I try to do SFC /SCANNOW something pops up telling me to put the XP disk in. I couple of years ago I got a new Hard drive and I don't think XP recovery was installed on it.

[rshaffer61]

Let's check your memory and make sure there is no issue with it.Donwload memtest86 from the link in my signature below.


Get the file that is named Download - The one you want is "Download - Pre-compiled Bootable ISO (.zip). When it downloads, it will be labeled memtest86+2.11.iso.zip
Unzip the file once you download it. You should have a .iso file in the unzipped directory. It will look like a zip file in some cases but the file name will now be memtest86+2.11.iso

if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get burncdcc in my signature below.

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

Make sure the bios is set for the cd drive as the first boot device
Put the cd in the cd drive and then boot your computer.

Running the Diagnostic Program:

The basic diagnostic screen has five main sections of relevant information. Three at the top which are labeled, PASS %, TEST %, and TEST #. This will basically show you the total progress of the current test, the overall progress of the diagnostic test, and the test number is currently performing.

On the middle left hand side of the of the program interface there is a “Wall Time” section that will keep track of how long the diagnostic test has been running for. This just gives you an idea if you are not attending the testing process.

The main section to look for is the lower half of the screen which is usually blank. As long as the memory testing is going ok with no errors this section of the screen should remain blank. If the diagnostic program finds any serious faults in the memory you will see it display a memory dump of address’s in this section. This is similar to what is displayed on your screen when you encounter a blue screen of death.

You now have most everything you need to know about setting up and testing your memory with diagnostic programs. This guide should help you get to the source of any intermittent problems related to your memory.


Run memtest for at least 2 hours
If it starts showing any errors during that time then you will have to replace the memory
If there are no errors after 2 hours press Esc and that will end the tests
We will then try other options

[antcadger]

The test finished in 24 minutes and "Pass complete, no errors, press Esc to exit" popped up. Should I exit or let it continue for the rest of the 2 hours?

The test finished after 2 hours with no errors.

Edited by antcadger, 09 June 2009 - 01:32 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Great so no memory problems. When you did the sfc /scannow did you make the changes in the Registry before trying it?
If so and it still doens't work then what i suggest is borrowing a XP of the same type you have installed Home or Pro and run the sfc /scannow then.
If that doesn't work then we will have to do a Repair Installation using the borrowed XP.